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Lando Norris delivered the decisive lap when it mattered most to take pole position for the Dutch GP, beating George Russell after a tightly contested session in which Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari all looked capable of challenging at the front. The McLaren driver set a 1:11.163 in Q3 to finish 0.102s clear of Russell, while championship leader Kimi Antonelli was only another 0.031s back in third. Oscar Piastri completed the second row, just 0.009s behind Antonelli, as the four quickest cars were separated by only 0.142s. “It doesn’t get any better, a little surprised honestly,” Norris said. “A decent lap, I was pushing as you’ve seen how close it is, every one-hundredth can make a difference. “A good turnaround from earlier where I felt we struggled a little bit. We had to try something as what we had before wasn’t enough, so we made some small changes to give me some more confidence.” Norris strikes as rain threatens Q3 The final segment developed into a race against the weather as dark clouds gathered around Zandvoort and teams rushed their drivers onto the circuit before the rain arrived. Norris set the early benchmark, initially putting himself 0.151s ahead of Russell, with Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Antonelli close behind. More from the Dutch GP Catch up with Total Motorsport’s latest Dutch GP coverage, including Lando Norris’ pole position at Zandvoort, the full qualifying classification, Max Verstappen’s McLaren comments, Mercedes’ driver relationship outlook, and Norris’ demands for improvement. The threat of rain made the first runs especially important, and the intensity increased further when the drops started to fall during the second attempts. Antonelli briefly moved to provisional pole before Norris immediately responded. Russell then crossed the line in second, while Piastri slotted into fourth. The Mercedes drivers had both looked capable of taking pole. Russell was purple in the opening sector on his final run, while Antonelli had started strongly before losing time later in the lap. “A difficult session for me, always on the back foot and on the last lap did a mistake into Turn 1, lost a couple of tenths and that took away the chance for pole,” Antonelli said. “A shame for that, but all to play for tomorrow.” Russell was more satisfied after continuing the strong form that brought him Sprint pole and victory earlier in the weekend. “Lando did a great job so congrats to him and McLaren,” Russell said. “It was a strong session, I thought we had it there to fight for pole but P2 is good. I feel in a good place, I feel myself again which is important. It was a real joy for us all to drive [here].” Ferrari lose ground as McLaren take control Ferrari entered qualifying with strong expectations after Leclerc finished second in the Sprint and Lewis Hamilton had shown good pace throughout Friday. The pair were competitive in Q1, with Hamilton briefly topping the order and Leclerc improving on heavily used tyres, but their challenge faded as qualifying progressed. Leclerc could only manage sixth in Q3 before a final improvement lifted him ahead of Max Verstappen. Hamilton then improved from ninth to fifth on his last lap, finishing 0.064s ahead of his teammate. That still left Ferrari well away from the pole fight after being one of Mercedes’ closest challengers in the Sprint. Verstappen finished seventh for Red Bull Racing, with the RB22 again lacking the pace to match the leading three teams despite the home crowd behind him. His stand-in teammate Liam Lawson impressed by reaching Q3 and finishing eighth, only around a tenth behind Verstappen. Bortoleto and Lindblad continue strong midfield form The midfield fight was almost as tight as the battle for pole. Gabriel Bortoleto recovered from a wild moment in Q1 to reach Q3 and take ninth for Audi, while Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls. Pierre Gasly narrowly missed out in 11th for Alpine, only 0.091s away from progressing, while Yuki Tsunoda ended 12th on his return to Formula 1 competition. Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon were also eliminated in Q2. Further back, the same six drivers who had failed to escape SQ1 on Friday were again eliminated in the opening phase of Grand Prix qualifying, with Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Oliver Bearman, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez all missing out. The real story, though, was at the front. After struggling more than expected during the Sprint, McLaren found enough performance overnight to put Norris back at the head of the field. With overtaking difficult at Zandvoort and warmer conditions expected on Sunday, that pole position could prove decisive. Norris has the track position, Russell has the momentum, and Antonelli remains close enough to turn the Dutch GP into another major chapter in the championship fight.